Sins of Memory

Author: Daniel Schacter
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Why do we sometimes see a familiar face but fail to recall its name? How can we avoid or prevent these annoying issues in our memory system? Why do we sometimes repeatedly recall painful events we would rather forget? Professor Daniel Schacter, the chair of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, vividly discusses the seven troubles memory problems bring us and proposes new perspectives on the mechanisms of memory. Perhaps forgetfulness is the most common defect of memory. It occurs silently every moment: once vivid memories fade rapidly with new experiences. Psychologists and neuroscientists have found the causes of forgetfulness and have discovered effective methods to combat it. Modern psychological experimental methods were established by a young German philosopher. In the late 1870s, while browsing through an old bookstore in Paris, this scholar saw a book and suddenly had an inspiration that changed his life.